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Moüette, [Germain].
The Travels of the Sieur Mouette, in the Kingdoms of Fez and Morocco, During his Eleven Years Captivity in those Parts.
Publisher: [J. Knapton], London;
Date of Publication: 1710
Stock Code: 15171
Extract from vol. 2 of Stevens’ A New Collection of Voyages and Travels around the World, issued the same year as the first English edition. Quarto, pp., 115, [5], sig., B-Q⁴, plus folding map to front. Wanting the title-page and half-title (i.e. A1, A2 - the monthly titles), as is often reported by institutional cataloguers, otherwise complete. Eighteenth-century Spanish calf; spine on five raised bands; titled in gilt to red morocco spine label; double fillets in blind to boards; marbled end-papers. Sympathetically rebacked, retaining original end-papers, reinforced with new paper and new blanks. Occasional spotting to contents; map neatly torn along central fold with tape repair to head, but still serviceable; first leaf laid down. A solid copy. The first serial issue of an influential and significant captivity narrative. In 1670, the nineteen year old Germain Moüette (1652-91) was bound on a voyage to America, when he and his fellow travellers were captured by corsairs, and transported to the notorious pirate port of Salé. From there, Moüette was enslaved, and forced to labour in the construction of the new capital city of Meknès. Moüette had many owners, and was transported through much of the country, scrupulously describing what he saw, and engaging in extended conversation with locals. Moüette’s account was first published in Paris in 1683. This edition was issued as part of John Stevens’ A New Collection of Voyages and Travels around the World (1708-11), which published travel narratives newly translated into English in serial form. Moüette was one of the few authors of a captivity narrative to have actually been held captive, this book has been called ‘foundational and genre-defining’ (Saidi, 122). A rather sensational volume, one historian of the region has complained that the book is too focused on the author’s ‘amorous adventures’ (Budgett, 496). £300.00